New funding may boost TreeHouse's acquisitions A new $1.2 billion funding structure has TreeHouse Foods looking for acquisitions. "We worked with our bank group to significantly upside our borrowing capacity and take advantage of what is shaping up to be a very attractive M&A environment," said Dennis Riordan, executive vice president and chief financial officer. The company reported first quarter sales of $618.9 million, a 15% rise from the previous year, due mainly to the acquisitions of Cains Foods and Associated Brands. FoodBusinessNews.net (free registration) (5/8) Inventure Foods, TGI Friday's partnership expands internationally Inventure Foods' deal to supply TGI Friday's-branded snacks has been expanded to include international markets as well as new product categories. Inventure has supplied the restaurant-branded products, including potato skins, jalapeno poppers, onion rings and mozzarella sticks, since 2000 and the new deal will expand the retail line to include popcorn, corn snacks, snack mixes and tortilla chips. The new international markets include Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, China, Australia and Saudi Arabia. American City Business Journals/Phoenix (5/8), FoodBusinessNews.net (free registration) (5/8) Keurig Cold will disrupt the soft drink market, CEO says Keurig Green Mountain is rapidly advancing plans for its Keurig Cold machine for at-home soft drinks, which is on track for a 2015 launch. "We remain confident Keurig Cold will be a second disruptive global platform for our company that will materially expand our addressable marketplace opportunity and provide another long runway for future growth," Keurig CEO Brian Kelley said. The company is also set to introduce the Keurig 2.0 hot brewing system, which can brew single servings or whole carafes of coffee, later this year. FoodNavigator (5/8) Unilever to spend $99M on Missouri expansion Unilever will spend $99 million to expand its Independence, Mo. facility, which will begin manufacturing dry mixes for soups, sauces and gravies under the Knorr and Lipton brands. Previously, the plant was used to make Wish-Bone brand products, which Unilever has since sold, and Hellmann's salad dressings, which the company is moving to another production facility. American City Business Journals/Kansas City, Mo. (5/8) Other News  | New research reveals keys to successful food innovation Affinnova's new study shows "anticipated taste" impacts food innovation, specifically:
• Why unique flavor combinations drive anticipated taste.
• How "Flavor Focused" line extensions drive incremental sales.
• Why consumers want flavors ingrained in other locations.
• The impact a brand can have on a flavor combination.
Download the full report by clicking here | | Report: Energy drinks could occupy 30% of c-store shelves Growth in the energy drinks category outpaces that of other beverages within the convenience store channel, with a margin of 40% for energy drinks and 30% for carbonated soft drinks, according a recent Beverage Buzz survey. Energy drinks currently occupy 20% of c-store shelves and represent 25% of total beverage sales at such retailers, and the category has the potential to reach 30% of shelf space and 34% of sales, the report said. CSP (5/8)  | Companies live and die by their employees
Businesses with fewer than 500 employees drive the economy, and represent about 55% of all jobs in the country. However, finding suitable employees can be tough. Small Business Owners with limited time and resources need to make every new hire count because the actions of each employee can go straight to the bottom line. Download your free white paper, Welcome Aboard: A Guide to Small Business Hiring and learn how to hire smarter. |
 | Major brands are boosting marketing for gelato products Gelato is rapidly gaining favor among Americans, and major food brands are responding by putting big bucks behind marketing pushes for their gelato products. Breyers has begun a campaign from DDB, New York, that targets parents on date night, while upstart Talenti is touting its 26 flavors in its first-ever campaign, from Fallon Worldwide. "One of our strategies is when you love us, we love you back. We very actively monitor every single post to our social media sites," said Talenti co-owner and Chairman Dean Phillips. Advertising Age (free access for SmartBrief readers) (5/7) | Roundy's to bow out of Twin Cities market Roundy's plans to sell its chain of Rainbow Foods stores in the Minneapolis-St. Paul market, as the retailer has lost its competitive footprint in the region, Roundy's CEO Robert Mariano says. The company will sell 18 of its 27 Rainbow Foods locations to a consortium of buyers including SUPERVALU for $65 million in cash and inventory. Roundy's expects to use the sale to pay down debt and invest in expanding its Mariano's Fresh Market brand in Chicago and other banners in Wisconsin. Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.) (5/8), American City Business Journals/Milwaukee (5/7) | Barry Callebaut may add cocoa flavanol health claim to flavored milk Barry Callebaut has the property rights for the European Union cocoa flavanol health claim and has found that flavored milk and dairy beverages may present the best opportunities for use of the health claim due to their credibility. The claim states that 200mg of cocoa flavanol can "help maintain the elasticity of blood vessels, which contributes to normal blood flow." The benefits of flavanols has been closely associated with dark chocolate but "people relate health to dairy much more than they relate health to dark chocolate," said Ieme Blondeel, product and process development engineer for Barry Callebaut. ConfectioneryNews.com (France) (5/7) | JICC calls for industry comments on retirement of coupon barcodes The Joint Industry Coupon Committee plans to submit a request to GS1 to retire the UPC Prefix 5 and GS1 Prefix 99 symbols from use to move the industry toward exclusive use of the GS1 DataBar symbol on coupons. This initiative is designed to reduce intentional coupon fraud and misredemption. Find out how to submit your comments by June 16. |  | Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none." -- William Shakespeare, British playwright and poet | | | Please contact one of our specialists for advertising opportunities, editorial inquiries, job placements, or any other questions.
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